20 July, 1999Heidelberg enters consumables marketHEIDELBERG, GERMANY– In its march toward vertical integration, Heidelberg has established its Consumables Business Unit. The new division will be based in France and begin selling products such as ink, plates and other chemicals later this year.

15 July, 1999Quebecor plant to shutMONTREAL– Quebecor Printing announced that it will close its Yvon Boulanger BA Banknote plant in Montreal. Exactly 25 of 154 employees will be reassigned within Quebecor; the rest will be laid off. The closure stems from Quebecor’s decision to exit the security printing market.

13 July, 1999Ink spill creates 900-litre messPITT MEADOWS, B.C.– A driver with Rolls Rite Industries of Burnaby was transporting 1,000-litre drum of white printers’ ink when he encountered an on-call ambulance.“Naturally he reacted and jammed on the brakes,” said Rolls Rite GM Eric Lee. The drum came off its moorings and 900 litres leaked over a course of five kilometres before the driver stopped. The company’s on the hook for $25,000 in clean up charges and a $100 unsafe load fine.

13 July, 1999Passage Prepress winds downTORONTO– Printera Corp.'s Passage Prepress will go out of business on July 30. Lack of sales is the primary cause, said Passage production manager Brad Morgan. Ken Barker, Printera’s VP of corporate development, said Printera’s decision is consistent with the company’s desire to tighten its area of operation.“Printera is moving toward solely focussing upon its label work,” said Barker.“That’s our core competency.” Barker confirmed rumours that St. Joseph Printing expressed interest in buying passage, but agreeable terms were never reached.

12 July, 1999Merger would create world’s largest printerNEW YORK - Quebecor Printing Inc. has signed a $3.9 billion deal to acquire all shares of World Color Press of Greenwich, Conn. Quebecor will assume World Color’s $1.9 billion in debt and pay a 30% premium for each World Color share. The merged company will be known as Quebecor World Inc.– the largest commercial printer in the world with combined sales of $9.1 billion. The deal is expected to close by November.

11 July, 1999Printers to merge, growMISSISSAUGA– Autygraph and RP Graphics have signed a letter of intent to merge operations by July 31. With sales of approximately $3 million and $7.5 million respectively, the resulting entity would rank as Canada’s 77th largest printer at $10.5 million. The merged company will be known as RP Graphics Group.“Our goal is to reach sales of $25 million in five years,” says Auty.

7 July, 1999Agfa targets Canadian newspapersTORONTO– Agfa Canada says it will sell CTP products directly to newspaper printers. The product lines include the Polaris platesetter, IntelliNet Digital Workflow software and N90 plates. Last month Agfa announced that USA Today newspaper would be implementing IntelliNet software at 33 of the newspaper’s printing sites. That deal was arranged by The Pitman Company, a supplier to the U.S. graphics industry.